Author: Tracey

Baked Eggs Over Polenta with Prosciutto

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Being born and raised in the South, a staple weekend breakfast in our house often consisted of eggs, bacon and grits; or, eggs, grits and country ham with red-eye gravy; or perhaps, eggs, sausage and grits.  Perhaps we would switch things up a bit and have fried fish and grits.  You’re probably beginning to notice a pattern here!  I’ve been living in the Southwest for 25 years, and what makes me sad is that grits are always hard, if not impossible, to find.  I can usually find the packages of instant grits, but they just aren’t the same and besides, that’s not the way Momma made them!  So, I’ve adapted, and instead of the white, coarse-ground grits of my youth, I now simply use golden polenta, which is almost exactly the same.  Both grits and polenta are made of ground corn, with the difference being that grits are made from ground alkali-treated hominy.   I know I’ve told you how much I love eggs and in this dish, the eggs are gently baked on top …

Farro Pilaf with Walnuts and Cranberries

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Autumn is just around the corner.  I swear, I can feel it.  I did a double-take this morning when I saw a few golden leaves on the Chinese Pistache tree in the front yard; then this evening, a storm blew through and it rained and the weather cooled a bit and I got that familiar excitement again.  Fall is coming.  Time for roasted things! Hot soup! Turkey Day!  It will be here before you know it! I think I’ve mentioned how much I love farro.  I love its nutty flavor and chewy texture and it’s a great alternative to rice.  This farro pilaf is so easy and it makes an elegant side dish.  This pilaf even makes an amazing stuffing for cornish game hens! The drippings from the bird make it even more delicious!  There is so much flavor in this dish–from the sage and thyme to the toasty walnuts and tart dried cranberries.  It really just speaks Autumn and I love it! I always buy “pearled” or “semi-pearled” farro, which takes less time to …

Filet Mignon Sandwiches with Herbed Goat Cheese and Arugula

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Happy Labor Day weekend!  I hope you are all having a great time enjoying this last summer holiday! Maybe you’ve had a chance to fire up the grill this weekend or perhaps you’ve already moved on to the comfort foods of autumn.  I have done a little of both.  In my head (and in my stomach) I’m already craving those comfort foods–like roasts, homemade bread, creamy polenta baked in the oven…but at the same time, it is still summer, and we in the Southwest have about two more months before we begin to feel the first twinges of cool Fall weather.  So, today, I landed on a happy medium.  I still got my roast, but made it on the grill, sliced rare and piled on a toasted ciabatta roll topped with goat cheese laced with fresh herbs and a nice handful of peppery arugula. The inspiration for this sandwich comes from the “Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics” cookbook.  I tend to make this sandwich for special occasions, simply because the main ingredient, filet mignon, tends …

Fig and Prosciutto Flatbread with Caramelized Onions and Balsamic Reduction

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Remember the pizza dough recipe from last month? Well, since that recipe makes about three to four pizzas,  I froze the extra dough for later use and made a fortuitous discovery!  After thawing the dough and allowing it to come to room temperature, I was able to roll it out into a very thin crust that after baking, came out crispy and light–more like a flatbread than the chewier crust of the initial fresh batch of dough.  This is a great thing, as I love crisp flatbread, and I had just the right toppings for it.  You see, I had ventured to Whole Foods market last weekend to buy the fresh mushrooms for the Sizzling Mushrooms With Sage and Thyme and the first thing I saw was a display of black mission figs on sale for $2.99 per pint!  I was so excited to finally see figs in season that I immediately bought a pint without a second thought.   Now, I think figs are some of the most inspiring fruits–beautiful and exotic, they are subtly sweet, juicy, and …

Sizzling Mushrooms with Sage and Thyme

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If you were to ask me to describe a perfect evening, I would describe our first night out with our closest friends on the first day of our vacation.  We spent the evening wandering around Portland, getting caught up on all the events of our year and sharing laughs over some amazing cocktails and nosh.  As the weather cooled and a soft rain began to fall, we ducked into one of our favorite haunts–the Driftwood Room at the Hotel DeLuxe, where we knew we could continue our conversation long after most other restaurants and bars had closed for the night (it was Sunday, after all).  The Driftwood Room is a dimly lit, cozy spot that evokes that sense that you’re about to star in your own Film Noir. The cocktails are so inventive and their “Bar Bites” serve as the perfect accompaniment.  We ordered the “Sizzling Forest Mushrooms” and they were incredible!  They arrived at our table in a little cast iron skillet, still sizzling from the broiler, earthy and fragrant and served with bread …

Breakfast for Dinner: Frittata Española

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As a kid, I would get so excited when my mother made breakfast food for dinner! There was just something exciting and extra special about having bacon, eggs and grits at night.  I know now that my mother was making breakfast at night because she was simply tired and couldn’t muster the energy for anything else!  But, to this day, I still love to eat eggs at dinnertime. To continue with the inspiration from the tapas cooking class, I made this version of a “tortilla española”, which is a classic Spanish dish made of sliced potatoes, onions and eggs.  It is very similar to a frittata, the main difference being the technique in which the eggs are finished.  Both dishes consist of eggs and filling cooked in a frying pan on the stove, but a frittata is finished in the oven, whereas a tortilla española is flipped over so that the top of the eggs are finished in the frying pan.  Because I didn’t want to risk possible disaster trying to flip the tortilla over …

Marinated Olives and White Bean Hummus

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While on vacation in Portland, The Man and I took a Spanish Tapas cooking class at Hip Cooks.  Besides having a lot of fun and learning some new techniques, we came home with some new recipes and fresh inspiration for a few dishes that we were already familiar with. It’s funny, but I can remember a time when I didn’t like olives at all.  They just weren’t part of our family’s diet and the only time I was ever exposed to them was when they ended up on a pizza (by mistake, I’m sure).  When I was eighteen years old, I decided that being olive-averse was unacceptable and determined once and for all I was going to learn to like them. So, from that point on, every time I had the opportunity to eat an olive, I did.  And little by little, I learned to love them.  Now I can’t imagine life without them! My favorite olives are Castelvetrano olives. I love them as much for their neon green color as for their buttery flavor! These …